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Goducate Sabah at Transforming Our City Together Exhibition 2011

Goducate Sabah was invited to put up a photo exhibit in the Transforming Our City Together Exhibition 2011 in Penang, Malaysia.  The conference was a gathering of organizations, businessmen, leaders, and volunteers who are calling for transformation in society.

One of the main speakers, Dr Kim Tan of Transformational Business Network spoke on corporate social responsibility and how good business practices positively affect transformation in the community. Goducate volunteers who attended the conference joined the workshop on education. The facilitator, educationist John Cruz, emphasized that transformation, be it in business, politics, culture, entertainment, etc, are all connected with education. When he visited the  Goducate booth he expressed that this what was he was talking about and was quite impressed by how Goducate started learning centers that are run by mothers and by former students turned volunteer teachers.

Of the 40 exhibitors, Goducate Sabah, another learning center run by John Cruz, and a soon-to-be-started center by another group were the only three that are into literacy work. The exhibition was open to the public, and what Goducate is doing to help transform poor communities of women and children into productive learners and responsible members of their communities attracted much interest and appreciation.

Preparing the booth
Goducate booth
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Goducate invited to help start Learning Centers in South Sabah

For the past 3 years Goducate has been helping poor communities start learning centers in the northern part of Sabah. Presently, Goducate has helped set up 14 such centers.

When a similar group in south Sabah heard about how we trained local mothers to teach the children in their own villages, they came to see some of our centers. This group had already started 2 learning centers but had experienced much trouble sustaining the enthusiasm of their volunteer teachers. When they saw the sustained enthusiasm of our “mum teachers,” they were convinced that this was the answer to their problem.

I was subsequently invited to visit their centers, and I too was convinced that we needed to involve the local community in teaching their own children, rather than use “imported” teachers.

Goducate soon hopes to expand its network of learning centers in southern Sabah —and eventually, throughout every part of Sabah where children are unable to get an education.

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Goducate heading for 100 literacy centers in northern Sabah….and then?

Earlier this year, Goducate discussed our dreams with our teachers (who are the local mums that we have trained to teach their own people) and we came to the “conclusion” that we should aim for 100 centers in the north Sabah area.

At that time, it seemed like an impossible dream. However, when I returned to Sabah recently one month after that planning meeting – we had started another 7 literacy centers! 7 new centers in 1 month is not bad at all!!

Most of these centers are small – with about 50 to 60 children. Most of them are held in the “balcony” of a house or in the sitting room of a house. These premises are offered by kampong people who are keen that their kids get to learn to read and write.

For the time being, teachers from neighboring kampongs with established literacy centers are sent to teach. In a few months, local mums will be trained (on the job, and in our training program) to take over.

New school in sitting room of kampong's "rich" man's house
New school in "balcony" of house

Goducate hopes to move on to southern Sabah this year and repeat this dream to help needy people help themselves to read and write.